30 Under 30: Saket Modi - Hacking and securing the world wide web

Image: Amit Verma

Saket Modi is passionate about playing the piano

Saket Modi |25
Co-founder, Lucideus
Category: Technology

I take pride in being a geek and a nerd,” says Saket Modi. In 2008, he hacked his pre-board chemistry examination paper, while a class 12 student at Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata. He owned up to his teacher and, since then, he has been an evangelist on cyber security and ethical hacking.

During his four-year graduation course in computer science at the LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, Modi conducted cyber security workshops at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses across the country. “Doctorate students of computer science used to attend my workshops,” recalls Modi. In 2012, Modi set up Lucideus—an IT risk assessment and digital security services firm.

“I keep telling CXOs that there are 100 ways in which a 15-year-old in shorts, with a 1 mbps internet connection, in a garage in some remote location, can steal confidential company data,” he says.

Currently, Lucideus, which has its headquarters in Delhi, has over 50 clients, which include ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, Tata Sky and IndiGo. The company’s clientele also includes the ministries of home affairs, finance, corporate affairs and defence.

“He (Modi) has the ability to think quickly and come up with solutions.

The knowledge that he has at such a young age is phenomenal,” says Bharat Panchal, head, risk management, at the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Set up by the Reserve Bank of India, the NPCI is responsible for all retail payment systems in the country and has been a client of Lucideus for the last two years. “Going forward, I’m sure India will have one bright name in cyber security in Lucideus, a company which can be benchmarked to global companies,” says Panchal.